Nightlight
by Shadowlite
Summary: When 16 year old Lillian Alber discovers that she is a mutant, she must learn to see the world in a new way, or live her life miserable and confused. OC warning! This story is OC centric!
1. Chapter 1

Damn mutants. It's the second time this week that someone's been killed in this tiny Californian town due to their antics, not to mention the staggering amount of property damage done to the business district. I switched off my television and let the nocturnal darkness shroud my bedroom instantly. They were like the plague, consuming the population at an ever-increasing rate, killing innocents every day. Their numbers were growing… and ours shrinking.

My rage grew as I thought of my mother, recently killed by one of them nearly a year ago, over something pointless no doubt.

I lay in my bed for a few hours after thinking of my mother, fantasizing of hunting down the monsters that had stolen her and killing them in slow, satisfying ways, cutting off fingers, severing ears, gauging out eyeballs filled with terror. Lovely, imaginary revenge. Real revenge of the nature would be all the better, but my daydreams were no less satisfying. I slowly nodded off to sleep, envisioning their cries of fear.

_Silhouettes of redwood branches danced above me. The gentle sound of trickling water playfully entered my eardrum. A waning crescent moon overhead lightly illuminated the forest floor, littered with pine needles and twigs. I wandered to the creek and stared into the water, the ripples accentuated by the silvery light of the moon. _

_A little leaf ran across the water surface, and swirled between the little waves in the creek, ebbing and flowing, when it caught fire. The red flame stopped where it had turned, refusing to obey nature's laws and flow peacefully atop the currents. Slowly, the surrounding water turned a bloody red, spreading from where the flame had stopped. I looked into the sky to discover that the once silvery crescent moon had turned an eerie red along with the creek._

_I was grabbed from behind; the forest set ablaze, an infernal fire burning my exposed flesh. I tried to scream, but I had no mouth._

My head jolted up from the embrace of my pillow, meeting the cold night air, and the sound of my panicked heartbeat, raging against the inside of my skull. A cold sweat dripped down my neck and legs, causing my short, blonde, wavy hair to stick to my spine, chilling my body and overheating it all at once. A nightmare, only a nightmare. I looked at the digital clock beside my bed; 4:37 pm… might as well get up.

I stumbled down the stairs, still groggy from my lack of sleep, into the living room, sitting on the old orange couch and flicking the television on, bringing it down to a barely audible volume as to not wake up my father. For half an hour, I stared at the television, an unrecognizable cartoon flashing images at me, not really caring to comprehend what I was watching, but thankful for a distraction from the nightmare I had had.

I sudden unexpected news report broke me out of my trance.

"Tragedy at Emberlight Elementary in Georgia this morning, as the result of yet another battle between mutant individuals gone terribly wrong. The fighting caused several classrooms to collapse, wounding nearly two hundred children and killing around thirty-six. Police are currently working on tracking the mutant individuals involved, but so far have no lea-."

I turned off the television, remote firmly grasped with both hands as if I were holding out a gun. I stood up, throwing the remote into the corner of the couch before holding one of the cushions in a death grip and punching it with all my strength. Poof, poof, poof. No matter how hard I punched, it felt inadequate, I wanted to punch the whole world, and watch it bleed out. I kept punching it until my knuckles were red and my face redder.

I stormed outside into the early morning air, and screamed at the top of my lungs. In doing so, a light flashed on in the corner of my eye, and stayed, irritating me further. I assumed that my father was behind me and the porch light had been turned on. I quickly swiveled around on the naked flesh of my feet, in pain from the rocky ground scraping against them. No one was there, and the light remained at the corner of my eye no matter which direction I turned.

I ran to the lawn. The light followed. I ran to the shade house. The light followed, constantly in the lower left corner of my left eye. I spun around anticlockwise several times, growing paranoid and sticky with sweat. My knees hit the concrete ground, cut open by the decorative rocks within it, and brought my hands down to the ground, eyes squeezed closed and irritated by tears. The light was gone. But only for a moment.

I fell to the left as the light ignited once more, scratching my elbow as it caught the weight of my body. My eyes shot open, more furious and disoriented than before. Then I saw.

My heart stopped. My hand… was this my hand? I glowing entity remained where my left hand had once been, in the vague shape of a human hand. I felt like it was burning off. I gritted my teeth, reaching out to touch it, and gasped as my right hand went through the left as though nothing was there. As I ran my fingers through the upper base of my left hand, the fingers of the left hand disappeared for a second. It was as if it was _made_ of light.

My sweating became even more unbearable, my throat closed off. My own voice caught my ear "No," I tried pulling off my intangible, glowing left hand, "no. This can't be happening. I can't be a- this has to be a nightmare." Something told me it was not a nightmare; I threw up.


	2. Chapter 2

I staggered into the house, grabbing a knife from the kitchen and proceeding to the bathroom, leaving bloody footprints as I walked. I switched on the light, my eyes trying desperately to adjust to the brightness, throwing the knife onto the countertop. I stared into the wallpaper, blue and white vertical stripes with a line of pink flowers halfway down the wall. The light was the color of sunlight, and the room smelled of perfumes, which at the time felt sickening. I turned my adjusted eyes to the mirror, leaning against the counter with my good hand.

My stomach fell, an eerie tingling spread across my body. My lungs flew into overtime, causing me to hyperventilate; little squeaks of my voice barely audible between gasps. Regardless of my being an atheist, I only found the words "My God."

Where my blue irises had been were pure white ones, surrounded with a small bit of light gray, blending in to the sclera, leaving only the pure black pupil visible. Along with my beady eyes, my curly blonde hair was oily and sticky with sweat, clinging to my face at awkward areas. My face was red and irritated by tears, and my feet, knees, and left elbow were all bleeding.

Hearing the rushed sound of footsteps, I slammed closed the door and locked it, keeping my foot pressed against it.

"Lillian! Lillian, what's wrong?" My dad asked from the hallway, sounding more irritated than concerned.

"Nothing. Just a bad dream," I said back, which was partially true, "I'm fine." That was an outright lie. "Just go back to bed dad."

"Fine, but can you be a bit quieter?"

"Alright dad." I barely had the breath to say that.

My gaze stiffened upon my reflection once more. My heart tensed, and my chest began to ache. I soon found myself crying on the closed toilet. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be. It isn't. My left hand was normal now, surely it had been a hallucination. Surely I wasn't a monster like the ones on the television… like the ones at school. It wasn't true! It wasn't true!

I stood up, and stared at the mirror again, a contorted expression on my face, a mixture of hatred and disgust. My eyes were still wrong. I didn't have to live like this! I grabbed the knife, and held it against my left arm, ready to cut off the hand that had turned on me. I couldn't do it. I held the knife for a while there, sitting on the floor, leaned against the wall, hysterical with anger.

There had to be a better way out of this. A cure? A treatment? I would give anything for a cure to this right now. But nothing I could say would ever change this, my life is over. Destroyed. I'll probably end up killing thousands from the evil that has invaded me. My body felt numb then. I closed my eyes and let sleep envelope me, the knife rattling across the tile floor.

I woke up at some unknown time, the bathroom had no windows and no clock, and so I stood up and walked into the kitchen, eyes meeting the oven's clock. 9:52 am, I sighed, glad it was Saturday.

"Miss Alber," I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of a stranger, "My name is Charles Xavier, your father and I were just discussing your current situation. Please, come sit with us."

I turned around, looking into the living room, where I could see a bald, handicapped man craning his neck to see me.

"Excuse me, but I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." I said to him, shooting a glare.

"I'm certain you do. Please, sit down."

I leaned against the wall, refusing to move. "What seems to be the problem, officer?" I said sarcastically.

"Lillian, this man is giving you an offer, listen to him, please." My father said.

"Thank you Mr. Alber. Lillian, I have recently learned about your unique talents, and am inviting you to join my school for gifted youngsters in New York, such as yourself."

"What type of _talents_ do you mean?" This sounded like a scam.

"I assure you my institute is not a scam." Xavier said.

"Are you deaf? What type of- wait. You're a mutant! Get out of my house!" He had just read my mind; the creep was trying to kill me!

"Lillian, listen to him." My father said, irritated.

"I mean you no harm Lillian. I understand if you are confused, but I can help you. You need to learn how to control your powers or you will be a threat to yourself and others."

"Prove to me that you won't harm me or my family." I seethed

"Very well… I brought someone closer to your age to help explain this to you." The mutant said, "Jean, could you please come in?"

A girl stepped in from the front porch, red hair, flawless skin, full lips, wide hips, maybe eighteen years old.

"Hello, I'm Jean Grey, a student at Professor Xavier's institute. I understand how difficult this must be, but I went through the same thing as you are now. Trust me when I say it really _is _for the best."

I looked to my father, who nodded. Fine. Fine! Three to one it seemed, fine, I'll go, it's not like I gave a shit about my life anymore anyways. I'd much rather senselessly loose my humanity and murder people in New York than in my hometown.

"Whatever," I said, "I'll go. I don't know what the _hell_ my power even _is_, but fine. How much am I allowed to pack?" I said, practically spitting the words out.

"As much as you want." Jean said, smiling and quirking her head to the side. I felt the overwhelming urge to punch her.


	3. Chapter 3

I trudged onto the mutants' jet, last suitcase in hand, bundled in my white scarf striped with rainbow colors. Regardless of the summer weather, it made me feel safe, as if they couldn't tear my throat out as soon as I stepped on board… that and I had a dagger hidden in my boot.

The air conditioning inside the jet was turned on full blast, and it smelled of fresh leather and plastic. I had never been on an airplane before, and this wasn't been exactly how I had previously envisioned the moment I finally flew; In a high tech jet, full of dangerous mutants, who wanted to take me to a "gifted" school in New York.

I made my way to the seat in the very back, in a desperate attempt to keep distance between the mutants and myself. I watched as Xavier rolled into the jet and made his way to the copilot's seat. I found myself holding my breath as the door slowly closed, afraid to be sealed into a room with such dangerous people. Jean walked down the isle and sat on the seat across from mine. I felt a twinge of panic, suddenly feeling like a cornered animal. I jerked my head away and looked out the window at my house as the engine started up.

An agitated voice came from the pilot's seat, male, seemingly talking to himself. "So… we traveled across the country to give _this_ kid a lift? She doesn't look very grateful."

No response from Xavier. Or Jean. There was a long pause broken by the gruff voice adding, "Yea, yea. Whatever."

The jet was soon in the air, and I was left staring at my house in the distance, suddenly regretting my impulsive decision to leave. A hand gently grabbed my shoulder, breaking me out of my trance, and causing me to jump.

"Lillian, I know it's hard, but you're going to love the school. There are lots of great people to meet, and the grounds always leave people in awe. You'll find something there, I just know it." It was Jean.

"No, I won't. And if I do, my 'awe' will be diluted by the fact that I'm surrounded by freaks." And that I'm a freak; I added mentally.

"Maybe you will, you just have to be a little… optimistic about it."

"I'm not an optimist."

"Try to be."

I turned my head at that. 'Try to be'? How ridiculous. Being optimistic in this situation would be to give in to my much-unwanted mutation. And I wasn't going down that easily. I was going to be pessimistic because the situation was so, not because I wished to change it. Jean was wearing a smile on her mouth, but something in her eye said that she wasn't very happy with me.

Her head snapped to the right, gazing at the door in the back. Giving a brief, "Excuse me," she stood up and walked over to it. She opened it only to have two kids, previously leaning against the door, fall on their faces. The first, a boy with light brown hair, looked up at Jean, smiling sheepishly as the other, a girl with dark hair, stood up and dusted herself off.

"Bobby, Amara, what are you doing?" Jean asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Bobby got up. "We were just curious! We heard you were picking up a new mutant and we just couldn't help it."

Amara interrupted, "_We_? I just came along to make sure _you_ kept in line!"

"You liar! Don't try to blame this on _me_!"

"Well, it was _your_ idea!"

"No way!" Bobby snapped back.

"You are both at fault here," Xavier was coming down the isle, "and I will discuss this with you both later, but for now, I suppose you should introduce yourselves."

"Alright professor." Amara sighed, "Nice to meet you, I'm Amara. I hope you enjoy the institute."

"And I'm Bobby! I can shoot ice from my hands and all sorts of stuff! What do you do, and what's with your eyes?"

"Bobby…" Amara whispered, "That's rude."

"Chillax hothead, I just wanted to know what her power was."

"Yes, Bobby, why don't you stop glorifying our freakish powers and just drop it." I said, making my frustration purposely obvious. If he was intimidated, good.

Xavier apparently decided to step in and try saving my first impression with these kids, "The fact of the matter is, Bobby, we aren't exactly sure of the nature of Miss Alber's powers, nor is she."

The kids went and sat down after that, and we rode out the rest of the jet ride in silence (much to my relief). It was still unnerving. So far they hadn't tried anything, but that just made everything tenser. I was unsure of their motives, which left me lost, confused, and terribly nauseous. When the jet landed, I felt as though I were crawling right into a shark's stomach, begging for a swift end, asking for my demise. As I walked out onto the grass surrounding the mansion that I assumed to be the institute, I felt as though I was being digested by said shark.

It was as I was stepping out of the jet that I finally saw the owner of the gruff voice from before. He was a tall man with a large, muscular build. His face was angular unwelcoming, and rough looking, like a killer or a criminal. "The name's Logan, runt, welcome home." Oh, I must have been staring at him. Crap, all the mutants I'd ever seen were pansies compared to this guy. He was scaring the shit out of me. If any of these people were to stab me, it would probably be him.

"Jean, I would like you to show Lillian to one of the empty girl's rooms and help her carry her luggage in." Xavier said.

"I'm on it Professor." Jean replied.

Jean led me up the marble steps, both of us carrying three suitcases each. Before she could open the door, I turned the doorknob with my foot and pushed it open. I have to admit; I was amazed by the inside of the mansion, but tried my best to look bored by it. Maybe I was being a bitch, but their opinions really didn't matter to me, besides, they weren't even human. I allowed her to lead me up the foyer stairs and into an unoccupied bedroom. I had to count my blessings; at least I didn't have to share a room with one of _them_.

Another girl behind Jean was walking down the halls nonchalantly, a yogurt cup in hand. Her eyes did a quick double take at us and she stopped, looking over Jean's shoulder into the room.

"Whoa, I didn't know there was a new arrival here today. Jean, why didn't you tell me I'm, like, totally in my pajamas. I'm Kitty by the way." She reached her empty hand _through_ Jean. I had to admit; I was definitely surprised by that, my surprise taking the form of a grimacing face. I reached out my own hand halfheartedly, barely touching hers.

"Lillian" I mumbled, taking my hand back.

"Well _someone's _grumpy today." She said, taking her hand back and walking through Jean to face me.

I shrugged off her remark. I was grumpy, so I wasn't going to bother refuting that… However… "Listen, maybe you can waltz around, showing off your mutation like that, but to some of us it's just a slap in the face." I said. Jean gave an angry sigh and walked out of the room.

"Yea, well maybe some of us feel confidant about who they are."

"And maybe some of you are ignorant and don't understand the true implications of this situation we are in." Oh, this chick was going to be annoying, maybe more so than Jean. "It's mutants like you, going around and flaunting their freakish powers that will end up ruining everything in the end."

"And what tells you that?"

"Have you been paying any attention to the news? Ever since mutants have revealed themselves crime sprees have skyrocketed. Dangerous mutants don't feel the need to hide anymore, so they go around doing whatever the hell they want. Just. Like. You."

"Do you hear yourself? You're being a major, discriminating, jerk!"

Kitty stormed off just like Jean had, leaving me alone to unpack my things, organize my closet, fill up drawers with my jewelry, art supplies, school supplies, electronics, and my socks and underwear. As I did so, I went over Kitty and my conversation mentally multiple times, wondering if I had done the right thing in standing for my opinion. I stopped unpacking and leaned against the wall in the corner for what must have been hours, until I heard the door to the room next to me close.

I began to hear murmurs coming from my neighbor's room and leaned into the wall in order to listen.

"-and he totally like, flew right through the wall again." Sounded like Kitty.

"Really? That's the second time this month. He's going to be a master of masonry in no time." And that was definitely Jean.

"Totally."

"He's really gotta learn some self control. So, ya'll were going to tell me about this new recruit?" A new voice, distinctly southern.

Jean started, "Yes, well, she's strictly anti-mutant, so she's not the most sociable right now. She seems to forget she's a mutant sometimes, and calls us freaks and the like. Honestly I can't stand her; I'm usually a very patient person, but her attitude is infuriating."

"Woah."

"Yea, and she like, got into a huge argument from just meeting me. I phased through Jean and she totally had a cow!"

"Kinda funny how she's one of those anti-mutant folk. Serves poetic justice. But are you two sure it's safe to have her around?" The southern girl said.

"Totally. She's all bark and no bite." Kitty said, "Besides, watching her go crazy might be kinda fun!"

"Now you two, regardless of how mean she might come off, I'm sure she's just scared and confused. We still have an obligation to help her, it's the right thing to do."

"Jean, I don't know how you hold it together sometimes." Kitty remarked.

I stood up, walking over to my bed. Well, I could see that I had made quite the impression on them, but what did I have to do to get that Jean girl off of my back?

**AN: Well, I hope you liked this chapter. I tried lengthening it a little, since my other chapters only felt like semi-chapters. Next chapter Lillian figures out just what her powers are and meets some more of the x men… Oh yea, I don't own x men, just in case anyone was dumb enough to assume I did.**


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